'Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who played in Buffalo during the rivalry days with the Nordiques, was impressed with the Stastny’s second generation. “You can see the bloodlines are good there,” Ruff said. “If you’re betting on the right horse, you’d bet on that one there.”'

‘”It doesn’t matter who we play, unless you’re getting somebody that’s dead nailed out of the playoffs, teams are desperate,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “Teams are desperate to move up, they’re desperate for security, they’re desperate to get in. You really don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel and every game is going to be like that. You might as well as expect it and try to win the games every night.”‘

‘Although their special teams, especially the power play, continue to show signs of improvement, Buffalo needs to shore up one weakness before the playoffs — the Sabres have given up 11 shorthanded goals, which ranks in the league’s bottom quarter.’

‘The 2002 trade of Drury by the Avs to Calgary remains one of the team’s sorest subjects, but if the Avs miss him enough to want him back, they might get a chance this summer. Drury, making $3.154 million this season, is eligible to be an unrestricted free agent, and the Sabres could have salary cap problems with several other unsigned, young players.’

‘Sometime next week, after the Flyers return from a road trip through Phoenix and Dallas, Anne Marie Biron, mother of two and Buffalo born and bred, will join her husband Martin to explore the City of Brotherly Love. “I told Gilles that if we’re going to get the talks going, that before anything happens with it I wanted to make sure my family could be here,” Biron told the Daily Times. “I’m sure my wife will like the area. I told her how much I liked the city and the team. I want to make sure that before we make a decision about where we might be for the next few years, she had a chance to see it.”‘